SSICM was conceived as a low cost non-nuclear ground to air interceptor of very high speed target such as offensive missiles. It was also conceived to achieve very small miss distances. The key feature that permits a small miss is the extremely fast maneuver response time. The fast response time is achieved by employing liquid pulse motors which produce a quantum change in lateral velocity in 0.004 to 0.008 seconds. The amplitude of the quantum velocity change is maximized by keeping the vehicle weight down. Weight has been minimized by the following techniques.
a. Spin stabilization eliminates the need for an autopilot, aerodynamic control surfaces, control surface actuators, control accelerometers, and associated power supplies.
b. The body mounted sensor eliminates the need for stabilization gimbals, stabilization gyros, resolvers, and associated structure and power supplies.
The SSICM concept arose out of a need for non-nuclear means to kill very high speed offensive missiles. Conventional approaches suffered from slow maneuver response because of their high weights. Because of their slow response it was necessary to predict ahead to determine guidance maneuvers, warhead aiming, and fuzing time. Accurate prediction required accurate tracking data which required high sensor accuracy at longer target ranges.
SSICM avoids these problems by maintaining its ability to respond to guidance errors all the way down to approximately 0.008 second to go. This ability to respond eliminates the need for predictions and also allows the sensor to be relatively inaccurate at the longer ranges.